Deficit dilemma

What is surprising about Andrew Wilson’s Growth Commission proposals is how little has changed since the 2014 independence referendum(your report, 8 April).

Then, considerable time was spent by the Yes side stressing that the pound was to be the Scottish currency. Wisely, then First Minister Alex Salmond did not suggest that would be the case for evermore; less than wisely, he was ill prepared to answer criticism about the lack of an alternative should the UK Treasury refuse to countenance the proposal. Early in 2014 both Chancellor George Osborne and his opposition counterpart, Ed Balls, had declared they would do just that. It is not clear that Mr Wilson has tried to address that political problem in his report.

He is on much stronger ground in his realism about the need for a reduction in the budget deficit if an autonomous government is to have any credibility on the international markets. This question of the budget deficit was addressed but not credibly presented by the Yes side five years ago.

That problem allowed its opponents to strike a justifiable fear in the minds of pensioners, savers, potential business investors and other key voting groups.

Therein lies the difficulty the Yes case will face if another referendum campaign takes place sometime in the

next decade. It may well come down to a crude calculation for many about whether they want to be relatively poor and free or part of a Union and relatively rich.

If the parties that support independence want success they need to start thinking now, not just about whether Mr Wilson’s overall analysis is correct, but what they will tell the voters about where deficit reduction will have its impact on individuals.

BOB TAYLOR Shiel Court, Glenrothes